EPA also wants Presque Isle Bay off fed watch list

ERIE, Pa. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has joined the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in asking that Presque Isle Bay in Erie be removed from the list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

The Erie Times-News wants the U.S. Department of State, which has final say on the list, to rule by Feb. 15.

Environmental regulators began watching the bay in the early 1980s when tumors were reported on bullhead catfish and in 1991 the bay officially became the 43rd "area of concern" on the Great Lakes list.

Presque Isle Bay will be just the second area taken off the list if the EPA gets its way.

Regulators have restricted dredging which was churning up pollution from the bay's bottom and Erie has made wastewater treatment changes that have cleaned up the bay.